Diamond: "Why Did Human History Unfold Differently On Different Continents For The Last 13,000 Years?"

Jared Diamond’s “Why Did Human History Unfold Differently On Different Continents For The Last 13,000 Years” explores continental evolution, providing insight as to how European domination of Native Americans, Sub-Saharan Africans and the Aborigines of Australia was able to occur. 

The ultimate goal and critical theme of his writing is to convey a new theory of evolution that disbands and disproves commonly accepted and believed racist views of biological superiority. Therefore, Diamond presents the following key points:

1. The availability of domestic animals and plants was far more prevalent in Eurasia.

Because most epidemic diseases evolved from domesticated animals, Europeans had developed genetic and immune resistance to these diseases that the Native Americans, for instance, were biologically unexposed to prior to European settlement and domination. Therefore, exposure to disease resulted in rapid and critical population decline which made it easier for Europeans to exert greater control. Furthermore, riding on horses in battle strategically benefitted the Europeans against the natives as they had no such domestic animals to ride on. They were thus much more vulnerable to harm. 

        2.  The global positioning of Eurasia enabled domestic plants and animals to flourish throughout the
             continent.

As Eurasia is situated on an east/west axis, species were able to spread because they experienced the same climate and day length which they had already adapted to. However, the Americas are situated on a north/south axis, therefore resulting in far less and much slower expansion as species were unable to survive the new climates and day-cycles as they increased or decreased in longitude.

      3.  The greater availability of domestic species, as well as the opportunity to continentally expand
            because of global positioning, led Eurasia to develop stable communities.

Domestic animals, like horses, and domestic plants made herding and farming possible, thus leaving the stone age of hunting and gathering behind. Therefore, sedentary communities were able to form because of the utilization of farming, which enabled a collection of surplus food; settlements of people no longer had to continually migrate because there was a stable and centralized food source. 

     4.  The existence of centralized communities led Eurasia to advancements which made future European
           colonization possible.

      When in a stable environment, with a surplus of food, it enabled the people to explore other areas outside of immanent survival. Thus, steal weaponry and guns were able to be developed and played a crucial role in European superiority. Natives did not have the time for such technological developments and were thus unable to defend themselves with their bone weapons. This is why only a few hundred Spaniards were able to defeat the thousands of natives of the Inca and Aztec armies. Not only did sedentary communities lead to accelerated technological growth (steal, guns, ships) but it also propelled political organization which united the people under certain leaders, regulations, etc., and led to the creation of well-trained armies which overpowered the untrained native armies that they fought against.

     5.   Finally, the isolation of Australia and Sub-Saharan Africa resulted in a lack of technological innovation
           which made them susceptible to domination and hindered their own social advancement.

       Technology has been proven to most commonly be introduced by an outside force. Therefore, without the ability to connect and communicate with the outside world, technology cannot be introduced or adapted. Therefore, isolated communities like that of Tasmania, were socially far behind that of European communities, situated in the stone age of hunting and gathering. Furthermore, isolation seems to connect to smaller congregations of people, like in the case of Australia. When areas are less densely populated human invention is slower and the community is more prone to rapid cultural loss.

Ultimately, Europeans became dominating world powers because their communities possessed, according to Diamond, important determinants of societal success. The following are the most important determinants:

Centralized and densely populated communities, an existing political structure, and the utilization and development of technology. All of these determinants were made possible by global positioning and the domestication of plants and animals. As revealed above, these determinants are very closely linked; they work off one another to propel advancement. The implementation of political structures can only occur in a centralized environment. A centralized environment with a surplus food supply provides circumstances to support a dense population of people. This population and free time as a result of not having to worry about inherent survival, is in turn able to lead to technological innovation to surpass other congregations of people.

These ideas can be applied to today’s global economy in many ways. In class, we talked about population density, and according to Diamond, population density can be incredibly beneficial, and in fact, is a major component of societal success. Thus, we are able to partially understand why highly populated areas like New York and Tokyo have been recognized for technological advancement and growth, and are home to important global industries. Population density also can result in higher competition as there are more people to potentially compete with. The increase in higher competition will thus lead to the need for better and more creative and efficient product development. In addition, higher competition will force companies with similar products to rationally price their products for sale which will benefit consumers and their wallets. While population density can result in incredible wealth and an extremely high standard of living for the wealthy population, it is also important to note that it can result in poverty and exploitation. 

Nevertheless, Diamond also discusses how Eurasia’s global positioning resulted in crop development and the domestication of animals, which in turn led to a number of resulting benefits. Thus, applied to global economics, it is clear that wise and effective resource utilization is crucial. For instance, if a certain nation’s climate makes a unique resource available to them, it is important that they are able to correctly develop and market their resource. For instance, they could rely on its exclusivity, not having to worry about competition, and set higher prices as they have market control. This country and their pricing of their resource will hence tremendously effect the global market. It may result in pressure to lower prices because of the lack of consumer participation or possibly the motivation of other nations to search for alternatives to this resource (like the search for alternative sources of fuel as oil prices sky rocket).